Lawrence Rhys Holden
Major Lawrence Rhys Holden (SN: 51773-11469-LH), also known as Candidate 183 and Code name: BANQUO by Office of Naval Intelligence agents, was an field-grade commissioned officer in the UNSC army and an intelligence officer in ONI Section One before and during the Human-Covenant War. Rhys became highly respected during his military career and volunteered as a candidate for the ORION Project in 2494, three years after its reactivation. Rhys was known to dislike using his first name and preferred to be called by his middle name by his friends. Rhys was a respected leader during the Human-Covenant War, and he helped contribute to many UNSC triumphs during the course of the War, distinguishing himself in many conflicts such as the Fall of Reach, the Battle of Earth and the Battle of Installation 05. Holden was also key in providing ONI with intelligence that aided the UNSC's war-time efforts. Holden was awarded with the Colonial Cross, a Prisoner Of War Medallion, a Silver Star, four Bronze Stars and three Purple Hearts, and, posthumously, a Legion of Honor. Holden also turned down two promotions. Childhood (2472-2490) Lawrence Rhys Holden was born in New Cardiff, Argyre Planitia, Mars to Dafydd and Mari Holden. Holden grew up as the middle child in a family of two boys and one girl. Rhys and his brother, Caleb, were quite close in age and were very close to each other for the majority of their early years. Rhys was known to do most things alongside his brother and the two were seldom seen separated. During his high school years, Holden and his brother were entered into a military academy as his father, a retired major, had planned on having his sons continue his family's military traditions. After his graduation, Holden's father pushed him into entering the Officer Candidate School "Army Officer Candidate School of New Cardiff", and both Rhys and his brother did. Early Military Career (2491-2493) Rhys began his career right out of Officer Candidate School, and began working with Army soldiers in things such as training exercises, patrols and police actions alongside specialist police teams. He quickly became a favourite around the barracks, and in the second year of his career, he was looked up to by many new recruits due to his helpful nature. As his first few months in the service were notably dull, mostly because the insurrection hadn't started open conflict until 2494, most of his time was spent organizing drills and constructing courses for the men to run through to keep their skills sharp. Due to his father's prestigious rank before his retirement, he was able to pull strings and get Rhys into Special Warfare Group One after the second year of service. During this time, Rhys also fell out of contact with his brother, who was stationed in a barracks located at Mare Erythraeum, though they would later meet again during the Human-Covenant War. ORION Project and the Insurrection (2494-2525) Read more about the ORION Project and the Insurrection After his transfer to Special Warfare Group One, Holden was quickly seasoned by operating on numerous deniable operations and high-risk missions. These missions caught the eyes of ONI personnel who had rebooted the ORION Project four years earlier, and wanted special forces officers in the program. After a year in Special Warfare Group One with consistently successful missions, they recommended his reassignment. Following this, Holden was approached by his Commanding Officer and decided to volunteer for the ORION Project. After Holden was selected for the ORION Project, he was augmented to increase his cognitive, physical and psychological attributes. These augmentations, however, were very risky and many soldiers in the later groups were physically and/or mentally unstable afterwards, with many forming illnesses. Holden made it through the augmentations without any complications. Holden was one of the few Army men in the project, as it was mainly populated by Marines and Naval crewmen. All of his squadmates joined him in volunteering but only two others were selected. However, even though they were selected and assigned to ORION, Holden was hardly assigned to the same squad as them. In addition, Holden and the other candidates seldom received promotions or commendations due to ORION being a deniable operation, with Holden not being promoted until 2509, 3 years after the deactivation of ORION During his time in the ORION Project before its deactivation, Holden became a renowned leader among the enlisted soldiers and made many connections with ONI personnel which would later get him a position within ONI Section One. Also during his time in ORION, he worked with many CQC specialists, marksmen, demolitions experts and learned many skills that would come in handy in the future. Though much of his time in the ORION Project was a learning experience, he also committed acts that conflicted with his morals during some of the anti-insurrectionist operations. Operation: CHARLEMAGNE (2496-2497) ''Read more about Operation: CHARLEMAGNE As the UNSC had predicted, the insurrection had grown fast and became an open conflict. The Insurrectionists had resorted to kidnappings and assassinations to attack the UNSC and, in retaliation, the UNSC deployed Spartans on a covert mission under the shadow of a naval battle over Eridanus II. The Spartans were tasked with retaking a sub-orbital transit station, likely for use of the Marines for fast transportation to the surface. The operation was a success, with only one casualty among the Spartans and a complete takeover of the sub-orbital transit station, however, the navy fared worse, losing four destroyers during the mission. Operation: CHARLEMAGNE showed the effectiveness of the Spartans and ensured the continuation of the project for a few more years. Operation: KALEIDOSCOPE (2502) Read more about Operation: KALEIDOSCOPE Continuing in the campaign against the Insurrection, the UNSC authorized Operation: KALEIDOSCOPE. This operation was carried out by numerous ORION agents who had been deployed on different planets to assassinate notable individuals within the Insurrection's structure, political or military. Operation: TANGLEWOOD (2505) Read more about Operation: TANGLEWOOD Deactivation of ORION (2506) Read more about ORION Project deactivation After the deactivation of ORION, Holden was recruited by the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. One notable mission involved the UNSC assault of an insurrectionist stronghold in 2508, staffed by approximately two hundred men and women, that was carried out by Holden's company and an armoured platoon. Early in the engagement's time line, the commanding officer was killed in action, forcing Holden to step in as the acting CO. The young lieutenant managed to maintain effective communications with both his company and the armoured platoon, and coordinated them proficiently and sustained low casualties while taking over the stronghold. Operation: TREBUCHET (2513-2524) Read more about Operation: TREBUCHET In 2513, the UNSC began Operation: TREBUCHET, a series of missions designed and executed in response to multiple rebel uprisings throughout the outer colonies, notably the Eridanus Rebellion and in the Epsilon Eridani System. The operation spanned eleven years, with battles all over the colonies, and ending with massive casualties on both UNSC and Rebel sides, as well as civilians. The operation intended to put the colonies "back in line" by asserting UNSC authority through aggressive tactics. This was met with understanding by the civilian populace at first, but when the operation was still ongoing by the 2520's, the operation became widely disliked by the civilian populace. One of the most notable planets on which TREBUCHET was carried out was Eridanus II of the Eridanus System, on which Holden commanded many joint missions with other branches, usually air force units. Most deployments saw Holden and his command platoon engaging ten to twenty insurrectionists at a time, either in taking over outposts, rescuing hostages or clearing bomb sites. He would also send his other platoons to take care of similar goals or to work conjunction when against more numerous hostile units. From approximately 2515 to 25120, Holden and his ODSTs were often sent behind enemy lines to set up camps, from which they would coordinate raids to support marine assaults. By 2520 Holden had engaged in some of the bloodiest battles of the operation, having took part in full scale conflicts with multiple divisions and cross-branch task forces. Around this time, the operation became very unpopular with civilians in the colonies, and were pushing to end the conflict. They would not succeed, however, and the operation continued as planned. Like the civilians, many soldiers became disenchanted by the ever-increasing amount of time that the operation was taking. Holden kept up the image of believing in the mission to set an example for his men, but he began to doubt the effectiveness and goals of the operation. Though his efforts were not wasted by any means, his men were exhausted by the amount of "hot drops", or drops into an active battle that they were performing, sometimes with only hours of rest in between. Holden saw action on many planets during the operation, and would end up fighting on Reach and her sister planet, Tribute. Mostly tasked with counter-terrorist operations, Holden's big battles were over for the most part during his time in the Epsilon Eridani System. His missions involved assassinations, hostage rescues and recovery of resources, such as ammunition and intelligence. These missions were not unlike the Assault on Tribute. In 2524, Holden's parent battalion, the 4th Shock Troops Battalion, was reassigned to the [http://www.halopedia.org/UNSC_Pillar_of_Autumn UNSC Pillar of Autumn]. He initially joined the UNSC Defense Forces in 2488 at the age of 18, and started his career in Officer School for the Army two years prior. After he was enhanced by the ORION Project, Rhys was transferred from the Army Special Warfare Command to the Naval Special Weapon's authority, and worked as an officer in the ODSTs. From there, he worked as an ODST in many battles ranging from battles in the outer colonies to the invasion of Earth. Holden also became an ONI agent and mainly worked alongside Section One by performing recon and pathfinder missions. Category:SPARTAN Category:SPARTAN-I Category:UNSC Category:O-4 Category:Humans Category:ODSTs Category:Aspari